Romney camp: Mitt 'convincingly won'

By Alexander Burns

10/23/12 10:11 AM EDT

A very upbeat statement this morning in the Romney campaign's daily update, asserting that the fact that the Republican cleared the threshold of being viewed as a plausible commander in chief, he won the final debate:

Last night, Mitt Romney convincingly won the debate, because the American people saw an experienced executive and leader with a strong command of foreign policy who could be the next commander-in-chief. While Gov. Romney laid out a clear, optimistic vision for America based on a strong economy, President Obama still failed to lay out a second-term agenda or put forth any new ideas for the future. Mitt Romney knows we cannot make a stronger America in the world with a struggling economy here at home weakened by massive debt, anemic economic growth, and looming defense cuts as a result of President Obama’s failed policies. America simply cannot afford four more years like the last four.

Romney's performance is getting fairly critical reviews and the three snap polls released last night tipped Obama as the debate winner. The Romney view is that all the specifics of the foreign policy debate are less important than the big-picture result of Romney not coming off as completely unprepared or addicted to war. That's a pretty low bar to clear, and it'll take a few more days of data-gathering to know whether that was enough for Romney to keep momentum.